A U.S. company contracted to secure an air base in Iraq not only ignored reports about the involvement of its staff in human trafficking and alcohol smuggling but fired those who uncovered the wrongdoing, according to an Associated Press investigation published Thursday.

Transnational organized crime groups rake in up to US$ 2.2 trillion per year according to a new study released Monday by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington DC-based research and advisory group.

The Spanish Civil Guard said Tuesday it dismantled a criminal organization dedicated to human and drug trafficking and freed two women — one of them 14-years-old — that were forced into prostitution by the gang.

Indian authorities arrested two orphanage officials for allegedly selling over two dozen babies and children to different parts of India, the United States and France on the pretext of adoption, local media reported.

Moroccan and Spanish authorities arrested 10 people suspected of having trafficked dozens of Nigerian women to Spain, forcing them to prostitute for as little as € 5 (US$ 5.3) under "conditions of absolute slavery," a police report said Tuesday.

French and Romanian authorities have busted an organized crime network for trafficking minors and setting them to work as pickpockets and beggars, grossing up to € 7,000 (US$ 7,870) a day, according to a news release by Europol.

Two Lithuanian men have been sentenced to 3.5 years in jail each by the Kings Lynn Crown Court for cheating two fellow countrymen who were starved and forced to work for low wages, according to a news release.

German and Turkish police Wednesday arrested 35 suspects and broke up a human trafficking ring that had been smuggling Syrian refugees across the Mediterranean and into Europe, according to the New York Times.

The US State Department watered down its annual human trafficking report and inflated the ratings of 14 strategically important countries, including Uzbekistan, according to a special report by Reuters.

Bosnian and French authorities have arrested 15 alleged members of an organized crime gang they say transported Bosnian women and children to France and forced them to commit small burglaries and turn their proceeds over to members of the gang.

The number of people who have been displaced worldwide reached an all-time high in 2014, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), a statistic that also reflects a worrying number of recent high-profile human-trafficking cases.

The European Commission’s attempt to launch a comprehensive strategy to tackle the ongoing migrant crisis in the Mediterranean has apparently failed, as major member states such as France and Spain withdrew their support for the controversial quota system at its heart.